Kingdom Hearts Drabble Series
by ennyousai
Summary: These were written for the Kingdom Hearts drabble contest on LJ, and feature all kinds of characters and situations.
1. Worth It

Riku asks himself if it's really worth it more often than he'd care to admit. He reminds himself constantly that this life in the shadows is his atonement for what he's done – he chose to ally himself with darkness and now he has to pay the price. But he isn't noble enough to accept his sentence without railing against everything he's been asked to sacrifice and the sacrifices he knows are yet to be made.

It starts with letting himself be sealed in Kingdom Hearts, giving up his chance to go home for a life of exile and uncertainty. Mickey and Ansem don't show any leniency toward him, pushing him harder and harder to achieve their ends. First his eyes are taken, their bright sea green turning to the unmistakable yellow of the Heartless. But even then he can't defeat Roxas, this shadow of Sora who wields the dual Keyblades with deadly skill and leaves him gasping on the ground. He knows then that he has to delve deeper into the darkness he both fears and despises, sacrificing Riku to become Xehanort. He covers all the mirrors in their hideout because he can longer bear to see himself.

Sora wakes up and even though Riku wants to explain everything to him he doesn't think he has the strength to see the disgust and hatred on his friend's face when he looks at him and sees only the man who ruined their childhood innocence. So he remains in the shadows hidden beneath the cloak of Organization XIII so that the body of this abhorrent form cannot be seen and wonders if, in the end, it will all be worth it.


	2. Rubicon

The others are all chasing after their desperate dream of becoming whole once again, but Luxord knows with his gambler's instincts that that is nothing more than an exercise in futility. Everyone who makes an art of playing games of chance (of Luxord considers himself to be one of the best) knows what it feels like to have Fate closing in on you, the stakes becoming higher as your luck wears thin. The others think that they are the ones on the offensive, and that Kingdom Hearst will soon be theirs. Luxord knows that their hand is weak, and Fate is about to trump them.

Every gambler can feel it in their bones when She finally closes in, and so when he and Sora finally square off in the World That Never Was, Luxord knows that he will not be the one to walk away victorious. Still, this knowledge doesn't stop him from giving the Keybearer his cockiest grin as he summons the cards.

Let the dice fly high.


	3. Rebuilding Rome

Leon knew the second that Xemnas was defeated. There was a delicious freshness in the air, similar to the way it felt after a summer rainfall dispersed days of relentless heat. He took a deep breath, feeling as refreshed as it he'd plunged into the Rising Falls, and let a rare smile curve across his lips.

A victory, and the most important one, but there was no time to rest. The Radiant Garden was still heavily scarred from the struggle, the castle walls still little more than ruins, and the town full of buildings half way between demolishment and repair. Traces of its former grace and beauty could still be found, but it would be years before it was once again the idyll of his childhood.

Then there were all the people who had vanished – Cloud, still pursuing his demons and Tifa, who had gone with him. Irvine and Zell, with their cheerful good humor. Rinoa, his beautiful Rinoa, whose absence he would always mourn. And all the others whose names he had never known but whose absence was keenly felt whenever he saw how sparsely populated the town was compared to the lively, bustling settlement he remembered.

Leon pressed his hand against the broken remains of one of the old walls and closed his eyes.

This battle was over, but they would never forget the price they'd paid.


	4. Heart of a Healer

Although she has never wielded a weapon as heavy and dangerous as Leon's gunblade, or been charged with defending the Light like Sora, Aerith knows more about bearing an impossible burden than her delicate, gentle appearance would suggest. She is, after all, a healer, and every time she fails in saving someone who is ill or wounded she feels the loss in her own flesh. When Xehanort first released the Darkness and the Radiant Garden became nothing more than a shell of itself, she wept for the souls who had not escaped to the relative safety of Traverse Town and her own failure to save them. Now that they have returned home, she continues to mourn. Each empty cottage, each abandoned shop, is a painful reminder of what they have lost.

As a healer she hates being powerless in the face of another's pain, and never does she feel more helpless than when she looks at Cloud. He is tormented by the specters of his past, and no matter what she does she cannot bring him back to her. It is especially painful to see him standing before her and know that he is not really there, and when she is alone she weeps for everything they once were and everything they might have been. But Aerith can never let the others see her sorrow and her fear, because she is a healer, and healers must serve as a source of hope and strength for others.

So she sheds her tears when no one will see, then squares her shoulders and steps out to face her shattered world.


End file.
